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Clinton rebuffs general's warning on Afghanistan
September 22, 2009
NEW YORK (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed back against the US military's blunt warning that the battle against insurgents in Afghanistan would likely be lost within a year without more US troops.
French Police Raid Makeshift Camp, Detain Afghan Refugees
September 22, 2009 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL) -- French police have raided a makeshift refugee camp near Calais after officials said it had become a magnet for crime and a base for human traffickers.
French government dismantles immigrants camp in Calais
PARIS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Busloads of riot police arrived Tuesday morning in Calais, north of France, to dismantle the camp of illegal immigrants known as the "jungle" of Calais.
Afghanistan election review will be based on sample
Los Angeles Times By Mark Magnier September 22, 2009
In the interest of a speedy resolution, the two agencies overseeing the vote agree to rely on statistical sampling rather than a thorough investigation of alleged irregularities.
US faces 'nation-building' choice on Afghanistan
Mon Sep 21, 2:50 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Democratic US Senator Jim Webb said Monday the United States had reached a "turning point" on Afghanistan, after a top general warned the war could be lost without more troops.
New Zealand Special Forces Return to Afghanistan
By Phil Mercer VOA News Sydney 22 September 2009
New Zealand has sent its elite SAS combat force to rejoin the war in Afghanistan. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will discuss the war and his country's deployment when he meets United Nations and NATO leaders in New York this week.
Telugu ghazal singer on peace mission to Afghanistan
By Mohammed Shafeeq
[IANS] Hyderabad, Sep 22 : A popular Telugu ghazal singer Ghazal Srinivas, who holds the Guinness World Record for singing in most languages at one concert, is on a peace mission to war-torn Afghanistan.
Afghan warlords will fight if U.S. gives aid
The WASHINGTON TIMES By Jason Motlagh and Sara A. Carter
SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's long-established warlords and tribal leaders are offering to step up their fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda if the United States sends them more money and weapons, reprising the role they played before 2001.
1.2 million Afghan children receive polio vaccination
KABUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Some 1.2 million Afghan children have benefited from polio immunization program conducted for the International Day of Peace campaign in eight provinces in the war-torn country
No easy choices left in Afghanistan
FT.com 09/21/2009
Nato forces are losing ground against the insurgency in Afghanistan. Afghans look as though they will continue to be led by a corrupt and warlord-influenced government, of doubtful legitimacy after the flawed and still inconclusive recent elections.
Indonesia: Influx of Afghan asylum-seekers stretches resources
PUNCAK, 21 September 2009 (IRIN) - Indonesia has been struggling to cope with a surge of Afghan asylum-seekers since the beginning of 2009, officials say.
US sees hand of elite Iranian unit in Afghanistan
Reuters By Adam Entous Mon Sep 21, 2009
WASHINGTON - The United States believes Iran's Revolutionary Guards are providing training and weapons to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan to help them fight Western forces, U.S. counterterrorism officials said on Monday.
Afghanistan's War - Waged on the Airwaves
U.S.-Backed Radio Stations Compete With Taliban Messages in Remote Regions Where Illiteracy Is High
CBS By Mandy Clark 22 Sept 2009
U.S. forces in Afghanistan are waging a new kind of battle in their campaign to win hearts and minds. You might call it the "radio wars," as CBS News Correspondent Mandy Clark reports from eastern Afghanistan.
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Clinton rebuffs general's warning on Afghanistan
September 22, 2009
NEW YORK (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed back against the US military's blunt warning that the battle against insurgents in Afghanistan would likely be lost within a year without more US troops.
Clinton's comments in an interview with PBS television late Monday came amid reports that the Pentagon has asked General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, to delay a request for more troops.
Clinton expressed "respect" for McChrystal's assessment that the United States would likely lose the war in Afghanistan within a year without more US forces.
"But I can only tell you there are other assessments from very expert military analysts who have worked in counter-insurgencies that are the exact opposite," she said.
Her remarks were the latest sign of stiffening resistance within President Barack Obama's administration to a major escalation in the US commitment in Afghanistan, and a growing rift over the issue between civilian leaders and the military.
The Wall Street Journal, citing defense officials, reported that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked McChrystal to delay submitting his request for more troops until the completion of a review of the US war effort.
McChrystal's assessment was leaked to the Washington Post a day after Obama, who faces sliding support for the war both within the Congress and among the US public, defended the delay in making a decision about additional troops.
"We're going to test whatever resources we have against our strategy," Obama said Sunday. "We will do what's required to keep the American people safe." McChrystal said a new strategy was needed, and warned that "inadequate resources will likely result in failure.
"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible," he wrote.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General David Petraeus, the head of the US Central Command, had endorsed McChrystal's assessment.
The report was presented to Gates on August 30 and is being reviewed by the White House, with McChrystal widely expected to make a formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force.
"We hope to have some resolution to this matter very soon," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
"But it is important to remember that regardless of when General McChrystal sends forth his request, the president first wants to fully discuss his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan and the strategy we are pursuing there before considering any additional resources for that effort."
Clinton said the administration's goal was "to take all of this incoming data and sort it out. And I don?t think anybody is going to push to a conclusion for the sake of a conclusion."
She added: "So we have to be really clear-eyed about this. And what I?m very grateful for is that we?re not coming in with any ideological presuppositions."
McChrystal, who assumed command of international troops in Afghanistan in June, said the campaign in Afghanistan "has been historically under-resourced and remains so today."
This fact risks "a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure," he wrote.
The 66-page document -- a declassified version of which is published at www.washingtonpost.com -- describes a strengthening, intelligent Taliban insurgency.
McChrystal was highly critical of a corrupt Afghan government and an ineffective strategy pursued by international forces that so far has failed to win over ordinary Afghans.
He also said Afghanistan's own forces must be boosted over the next 12-18 months to maintain international support.
Despite his call for a radical rethink, McChrystal maintained a cautious optimism for the long-term outcome of the conflict, insisting: "While the situation is serious, success is still achievable."
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French Police Raid Makeshift Camp, Detain Afghan Refugees
September 22, 2009 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL) -- French police have raided a makeshift refugee camp near Calais after officials said it had become a magnet for crime and a base for human traffickers.
Hundreds of migrants had set up shelters in the camp, called "The Jungle," to wait for a chance to stow away on vehicles heading for the United Kingdom.
Of 278 illegal migrants detained during the dawn raid, most were men and youths from Afghanistan. More than 130 declared they were under the age of 18. Authorities say they will be given a choice of applying for asylum or being returned to their home countries.
Among the migrants at the camp was a young man named Han, who says he fled his home in Pakistan earlier this year to escape fighting between government forces and Taliban militants.
"People want to go to the United Kingdom because when they reach the U.K. they deal with us like humans," Han said. "But if we seek asylum here in France, you can see, the people are living here in 'The Jungle.' Even if they seek asylum, they have no place to stay. So that is why the people, and all the guys here, decide to go to the U.K."
French Immigration Minister Eric Besson said the authorities were forced to close the camp because it had become an "operating base" for human traffickers.
"I've seen a number of people describe it as a pleasant humanitarian camp. It is not a humanitarian camp. It is the base camp of people traffickers and there you find people who are exploited, the victims of violence," Besson says.
"You have chiefs and cliques. It's the law of the jungle that reigns there. On the territory of the French republic, the law of the jungle can't last eternally. The state of law needs to be established in Calais, to the benefit of the migrants themselves who are exploited, but also to the benefit of the inhabitants of Calais and its surrounding area, whose patience has been sorely tested for several months now," he added.
'It Is A Scandal'
Local officials from Calais supported the raid, citing a recent spike in crime, appalling sanitary conditions, and an outbreak of scabies.
The authorities say adult migrants have been placed in detention while authorities attempt to verify whether their personal situations allow them to apply for asylum in France. Pierre Debousquet, a local police chief in Calais, says those with legal status will be released with an offer of accommodation in Calais or nearby.
"We're working with the British to make the border less porous. We are working with our European neighbors to try and reach more effective and secure solutions to the problems of migrants. This is a problem that goes far beyond our borders," Debousquet said.
"In the meantime, we couldn't accept this 'Jungle.' It is a scandal in terms of human rights and sanitation, in terms of delinquency. And the first victims were the migrants who were camped here," he said.
But rights activists denounced the action as a media event that's forcing refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other troubled countries to go into hiding rather than seek help.
"We are against 'The Jungle.' It is clear that 'The Jungle' needs to be destroyed. It is a place that shouldn't exist in France in this day and age -- a place where people live worse than animals," said Sylvie Copyans of the Salam migrant support group, who monitored the police action.
"We agree that we need to get rid of 'The Jungle.' But what we need after that are solutions. What will become of the people? Where will they go? If we get rid of it just to put them onto the streets, then the problem isn't really solved," she added.
Hundreds of migrants have fled "The Jungle" since the government first announced it would shut down the camp last week.
The authorities had earlier operated an official center for migrants nearby at Sangatte. That facility was closed in 2002 because of a rising crime rate there and British accusations the camp was a magnet for migrants sneaking into the United Kingdom.
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French government dismantles immigrants camp in Calais
PARIS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Busloads of riot police arrived Tuesday morning in Calais, north of France, to dismantle the camp of illegal immigrants known as the "jungle" of Calais.
French Immigration Minister Eric Besson confirmed to RTL radio that the district government had launched the operation just before 8 a.m. and said he would visit the site that morning.
"There were 250 immigrants in the camp there last morning," the minister said. However, some media reported French riot police detained more than 270 migrants during the raid.
According to witnesses, most of the migrants, mainly Afghans including many minors, watched police destroy their shelters, while some held up placards protesting the action.
Migrants were blocked from the site while police removed their makeshift tents and several men were arrested after wrestling with police while trying to break through the blockade.
Many illegal migrants from war-torn Afghanistan and some Arab countries head to France as a transit point, from where they try to enter England but, with entry into Britain becoming more difficult, the number of migrants stuck in Calais has increased, as has their shabby tent city.
Humanitarian groups criticized the French government for violating human rights, but Besson defended the police action, saying the "jungle" "is not a humanitarian camp. It's a base for people traffickers."
In 2002, a Red Cross camp near the opening of the Channel Tunnel, at Sangatte, was closed under then interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, but many migrants went back there after the shutdown.
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Afghanistan election review will be based on sample
Los Angeles Times By Mark Magnier September 22, 2009
In the interest of a speedy resolution, the two agencies overseeing the vote agree to rely on statistical sampling rather than a thorough investigation of alleged irregularities.
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - After weeks of wrangling, two agencies overseeing Afghanistan's fraud-tainted election agreed Monday to rely on statistical sampling rather than an in-depth investigation of alleged voting irregularities.
The Independent Election Commission and the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission said the new approach, "based on international standards," would help ensure the credibility of the Aug. 20 election.
By some estimates, more than 20% of the 5.5 million votes cast are suspect. Allegations are widespread that ballot boxes were stuffed, ballots pre-marked and polling stations closed.
Supporters of the deal say that streamlining the election review could reduce political instability stemming from uncertainty over the outcome. Critics say that anything less than a full investigation risks undermining faith in a fair outcome -- which could imperil counter-insurgency efforts and drive more Afghans away from the U.S. and its allies.
The two sides hope to agree on a methodology within 48 hours. Grant Kippen, chairman of the U.N.-backed commission, acknowledged that the "devil's in the details."
"Whatever process is agreed to, it has to be proper, fair and transparent," Kippen said.
Preliminary results give incumbent President Hamid Karzai 54.6% of the vote, compared with 27.8% for his chief rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. But watchdog groups say the questionable votes are more than enough to bring Karzai's share below 50%. If that happens, the two would compete in a runoff.
"Certainly there is expediency in this decision, otherwise they'd investigate each complaint properly," said John Dempsey, Kabul-based senior analyst with the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank.
Others, however, say the benefit of settling on a president soon may outweigh the ideal of examining every allegation in detail.
"I think the ECC is trying to do the right thing," said Karin von Hippel, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The ECC is aware of time issues."
Snow will soon make many parts of the country all but inaccessible, potentially delaying a runoff until spring.
The scandal-tainted election has added to worries about corruption in Afghanistan and whether the war against the Taliban is winnable.
The government election commission has been under pressure from Karzai supporters to downplay fraud allegations and put their man over the top in the first round, analysts said. Its international counterpart has vowed to methodically and carefully ensure the integrity of the process.
"We need a fair election, even if it takes 10 rounds," said a policeman in Kabul, who declined to be identified because he has a government job. "The problem is, they didn't appoint qualified people to register the voters."
Karzai has conceded that some fraud occurred, but he said it was blown out of proportion by the Western media and international observers.
The debate over how to review the election results has spilled over to the U.N. The world body's top official in Afghanistan, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, is said to favor greater accommodation with the Karzai administration. His deputy, American Peter Galbraith, reportedly pushed the government hard to explain the perceived irregularities. Galbraith agreed a week ago to leave the country.
"The tension within the U.N. reflects a difference of opinion in how tarnished an election process people should be willing to accept," Dempsey said.
"I think that all parties hope for a way out of this that will allow Afghanistan to move on quickly, with some sort of deal being struck -- or a runoff held in October," he said. "No one wants six more months of uncertainty and governing inertia. Afghanistan cannot afford that."
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US faces 'nation-building' choice on Afghanistan
Mon Sep 21, 2:50 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Democratic US Senator Jim Webb said Monday the United States had reached a "turning point" on Afghanistan, after a top general warned the war could be lost without more troops.
"We have reached a turning point in Afghanistan as to whether we are going to formally adopt nation-building as a policy," Webb, a member of the Senate's Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, said in a brief statement.
His comments came after US and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal's blunt assessment, in a classified report obtained, and partially published, by the Washington Post, adds an explosive element to a quickening debate over future war strategy.
McChrystal cautioned that failing to gain the initiative against the Taliban insurgency within 12 months could make victory impossible.
Webb warned last week that sending more US troops to Afghanistan could lead the strife-torn country's population to regard the United States as "an occupying force" and that the Obama administration's plans to build a much larger Afghan national army lacked historical precedent.
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New Zealand Special Forces Return to Afghanistan
By Phil Mercer VOA News Sydney 22 September 2009
New Zealand has sent its elite SAS combat force to rejoin the war in Afghanistan. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will discuss the war and his country's deployment when he meets United Nations and NATO leaders in New York this week.
The deployment of elite New Zealand troops to Afghanistan is in response to repeated requests from the United States.
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key defends his decision to send about 70 soldiers to what he describes as a "historical hotbed of terrorism." He is the United States this week to attend the United Nations General Assembly and will meet with leaders of other nations involved in the war in Afghanistan.
It is New Zealand's the fourth detachment of SAS troopers to be sent to Afghanistan since 2001, but the first since 2005.
Mr. Key says it is vital that the international coalition defeats the insurgency.
"The aim here is to try and stabilize Afghanistan and I think the alternative is that we are left with a country where control is ceded to the Taliban, where in all probability more terrorist activities will be planned and schemes will be hatched and I do not believe that is in the world's best interests," he said.
New Zealand also has a 140-strong army reconstruction unit in Afghanistan.
The deployment of New Zealand Special Forces comes as concerns grow over the number of casualties of both foreign soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan. In addition, many Western governments are worried about political uncertainty in the country over allegations of vote rigging in the recent presidential election.
General Stanley McChrystal, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has warned that the war against the Taliban could be lost if foreign troop levels are not boosted significantly.
Australia, a key U.S. ally, has said it has not been asked to send more forces to Afghanistan. It has about 1,550 soldiers there now - the largest contribution of any country outside NATO.
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Telugu ghazal singer on peace mission to Afghanistan
By Mohammed Shafeeq
[IANS] Hyderabad, Sep 22 : A popular Telugu ghazal singer Ghazal Srinivas, who holds the Guinness World Record for singing in most languages at one concert, is on a peace mission to war-torn Afghanistan.
Srinivas Tuesday left for Kabul on a 10-day peace mission at the invitation of Maiwand Bank of Afghanistan. He will be the guest of honour in the peace day and Eid celebrations of Maiwand Bank Sep 25.
Kesiraju Srinivas, popularly known as Ghazal Srinivas, will be performing in Pashto, Dari, Balochi, and Arabic languages during the peace day celebrations.
Srinivas told IANS that his tour was part of his plans to spread the peace message of Mahatma Gandhi across the world.
He will be performing Oct 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and International Non-violence day, at the Indian embassy in Kabul.
An audio album "Doosti-Sol" rendered by Srinivas will be released during the celebrations and the same will be dedicated to India-Afghanistan friendship and peace.
Srinivas would also address Indians, especially Telugus, musicians, literary personalities and peace activists.
The singer set a Guinness World Record by singing in 76 languages at a concert at Vijayawada June 2 and 3 last year. He received the certificate for his feat from Guinness in November.
The singer also plans to sing at peace concerts in Iraq besides, Iran, South Africa and Middle East.
"Gandhiji's message is more relevant today as there is violence everywhere. I will do my best through singing in different countries to spread his message of non violence," said Srinivas, who participated in a peace walk from Delhi to Multan in 2005.
Hailing from Palakol in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Srinivas has sung 600 ghazals since 1986. The ghazals were penned by eminent Telugu poets C. Narayan Reddy. He himself has also written a few ghazals.
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Afghan warlords will fight if U.S. gives aid
The WASHINGTON TIMES By Jason Motlagh and Sara A. Carter
SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's long-established warlords and tribal leaders are offering to step up their fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda if the United States sends them more money and weapons, reprising the role they played before 2001.
The offer could be tempting to President Obama, who is being urged to build up U.S. troop strength in the country in spite of rising domestic opposition to the war, especially in the aftermath of a fraud-tainted Afghan presidential election.
Afghans who led ethnic militias against the Soviet occupation two decades ago say more U.S. troops would not be needed if the United States provided them with financial and material backing.
"If you support me, I will destroy the Taliban and al Qaeda," Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum told The Washington Times in an interview at his northern stronghold. "I don't want to be a minister, not even the defense minister. I need to be with my soldiers. Give me the task and I will do it."
Other ethnic leaders have made similar offers, but their support is problematic.
Gen. Dostum is one of Afghanistan's most notorious warlords -- a Russian-educated former defense minister who turned against the Soviet Union in the 1980s but became a key figure in the Russian-backed fight against the Taliban a decade later.
The U.S. backed him after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but human rights groups say he was responsible for numerous war crimes, including alleged links to the suffocation of about 2,000 Taliban prisoners of war in truck containers.
Banished by President Hamid Karzai to Turkey after he got into a political squabble with a rival, Gen. Dostum was invited back before the Aug. 20 presidential election to deliver hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uzbek votes to Mr. Karzai.
More than two dozen other warlords still hold significant power in Afghanistan. They include provincial governors Atta Mohammed Noor, Gul Agha Sherzai and Ismail Khan.
Several of these former mujahedeen, as the anti-Soviet freedom fighters were known, said they also want a shift in U.S. strategy.
"Afghanistan and its people are the only ones who can truly defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda," said a former commander in the Northern Alliance who fought alongside Ahmad Shah Massoud against the Taliban. Mr. Massoud was killed by al Qaeda suicide bombers posing as reporters two days before the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We need weapons and resources," said the former commander, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Mohammad. "More U.S. troops are not necessary, but we would fight alongside them if asked.
"We are not children that need to be watched over -- we defeated the Soviets," he added. "We can defeat the Taliban, but we need assistance from the U.S. Not more troops but we need the NATO commanders to listen to us, support us. So far, they are not listening and the Afghan people fear they will be abandoned. This is no way to defeat an enemy."
On Capitol Hill, there is growing concern about sending more Americans to augment the 68,000 U.S. troops who will be in Afghanistan by the end of this year, particularly within the president's own party.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, warned in a confidential assessment that a new strategy and additional troops would be needed to salvage the 8-year-old war. The assessment, first reported by The Washington Post and verified by a senior U.S. defense official Monday, does not request a specific number of troops, but says the Afghan army and police need to grow to about 400,000.
Officials close to Gen. McChrystal have said he will request 20,000 more U.S. troops to provide security for Afghan civilians and to train Afghans. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the troop request had not been made.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who traveled with the mujahedeen and witnessed their siege of Jalalabad in 1989, said U.S. planners are not heeding the lessons of the past.
"If the Taliban is going is be defeated, it's got to be by the Afghan people themselves, not by sending more U.S. troops, which could actually be counterproductive," he said.
He noted that Afghan militias did the fighting on the ground that toppled the Taliban in 2001 while the U.S. provided air support, money and weapons.
"We need widespread support for a moderate anti-Taliban decentralized system in Afghanistan," Mr. Rohrabacher said. "Our allies there, who once shared our same goal are now alienated and alone, and many are being co-opted by the enemy."
In a sense, the warlords have never gone away.
"It is like being transported to another place and time," said a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the country who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
"We cannot expect after 30 years of war in Afghanistan that the people are not prepared to fight for their own freedom. ... They have not been defeated since Alexander the Great. What makes us think that we can win this without the cooperation of the tribes? It's not about Karzai; it's about the tribes."
Pointing to growing Taliban strength in the south and east and more recent inroads in the north, Gen. Dostum vowed that he could stabilize nine northern provinces with 10,000 fighters within three months if given the order.
Such bluster is not out of character for Gen. Dostum, whose homecoming was decried by rights activists as an affront to an already fragile democracy.
Still, public distrust of foreign forces has been amplified by hundreds of civilian deaths from errant military operations. The latest incident, a Sept. 4 airstrike in Kunduz province that Afghan authorities say killed 30 civilians, has provoked a fresh round of outrage.
To ease some of the pressure, former militia commanders should be enlisted to beat back the Taliban much as they did in late 2001, said several U.S. military officials and former Northern Alliance members. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing strategic review.
"Give us the support we need, and we will win this battle against the Taliban and al Qaeda," said Sher, another former fighter with the Northern Alliance. "We are ready to do what we must to defeat them."
Sher, who asked that only his first name be used because of security concerns, told The Times, "We are ready to die for our freedom and the freedom of our children. The U.S. commanders are not winning this fight. Every day we hear commanders saying that the Taliban is getting stronger."
Contradicting that argument, a U.S. military official in Afghanistan said there are concerns that reverting to supplying informal "tribal" militias could "lead to the resurgence of warlordism" and defeat attempts to democratize the country and build a professional military.
Peter Tomsen, the U.S. special envoy to Afghan resistance fighters during the war against the Soviet Union, said warlords such as Gen. Dostum should not be trusted or "indulged."
Gen. Dostum said those who want to keep him out of Afghanistan want to see the country fail and must be in league with the Taliban.
"Please realize who are friends and enemies. Don't be anxious about the return of Gen. Dostum," he said in an interview in his lavish villa.
Pointing to a laminated picture of Gen. Tommy Franks hanging in his living room, he noted that Gen. Franks, former commander of Centcom, had called him a national hero for his role in helping oust the Taliban.
"The U.S. needs strong friends like Dostum. They don't need their own commanders who don't know the land, the language, the people of this country," he said. "Where is Washington? Where am I? This is the problem."
When the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, "I was in the Hindu Kush mountains fighting against the Taliban on horseback," he went on, recounting how the CIA and U.S. Special Forces reached out to him when they needed a strong ally to roll back the Taliban in the north.
"He may not be the clean-cut U.S. soldier and true, he has flip-flopped more than once, but he is a fighter and survivor," said a U.S. military official, who has worked closely with Gen. Dostum in the past. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We need to count on the Afghan people and tribes much more than we are doing now. Without them this war is lost."
Gen. Dostum insists he is ready to raise a militia and sweep across the north again, without the support of Afghan government forces which he deems "too weak" to do the job.
"All the way to Waziristan if I must," he said, referring to the tribal refuge of the Taliban and al Qaeda across the Pakistan border.
• Sara A. Carter reported from Washington.
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1.2 million Afghan children receive polio vaccination
KABUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Some 1.2 million Afghan children have benefited from polio immunization program conducted for the International Day of Peace campaign in eight provinces in the war-torn country, said a statement of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday.
The three-day drive vaccination, wrapped up on Monday, was a joint effort by the Afghan health authorities, World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
About 97.5 percent of the targeted children were immunized, with health workers unable to reach only 13 of the intended 593 locations including some of the riot areas in the south such as Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand, the statement said.
It noted that "the immunization drive was part of the ongoing effort to eradicate polio in Afghanistan, which is one of just four remaining polio-endemic countries."
"This is better than any immunization round in Afghanistan in the past 18 months," said Peter Graaff, WHO Country Representative.
Afghan Public Health Minister Sayed Amin Fatimi also commended that this immunization round, involving 14,000 health workers and volunteers, was a great success.
The Taliban agreed not to block access to health workers involved in the campaign, it added.
Since 2007, Afghanistan's Peace Day campaigns have resulted in polio immunization for 4.5 million children in the country's most insecure areas.
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No easy choices left in Afghanistan
FT.com 09/21/2009
Nato forces are losing ground against the insurgency in Afghanistan. Afghans look as though they will continue to be led by a corrupt and warlord-influenced government, of doubtful legitimacy after the flawed and still inconclusive recent elections. As casualties mount and spread, a backlash is building in allied countries against a war their citizens increasingly see as both pointless and doomed.
This is not the most propitious background to the strategic review by General Stanley McChrystal, US commander in Afghanistan, leaked this week to The Washington Post.
Nonetheless, there is something to work with. Regardless of the raging insurgency and in spite of the inability of Hamid Karzai's government to provide security or justice, millions of Afghans braved the rockets and blood-curdling threats of the Taliban and turned out to vote. While most focus will be on Gen McChrystal's request for (still unquantified) extra troops, the core message of his report is that it is the people of Afghanistan who “are the objective”.
It follows that the central task of Nato and government forces is to change the “perception that our resolve is uncertain” which “makes Afghans reluctant to side with us against the insurgents”.
That requires the allies to regain the initiative over the next 12 months and reverse the momentum of the jihadis. The new McChrystal approach has been well-trailed. It is not Taliban corpses that will turn the tide. The jihadi groups, financed by the narcotics trade and reliant on the ambivalence and fear of the population, could keep this conflict going indefinitely – unless Afghans begin to see progress at last.
Afghans want an end to corruption and warlordism. They want security, jobs, schools and clinics, roads and markets, electricity and water. They want responsive government and justice. As Nato clears and holds larger areas, they want to know they will be protected from reprisals if they side with the government. They need persuading the US, UK and their local allies are in for the long haul.
All that means greater emphasis on living among and protecting the population, and much less on the doctrine of force protection – and the promiscuous use of air power to minimise allied casualties, often at the cost of heavy civilian losses.
Gen McChrystal believes this requires extra forces over the coming “likely decisive” year, accompanied by the accelerated build-up of Afghan forces. In the longer term, he redefines success in Afghanistan as “a condition where the insurgency no longer threatens the viability of the state”. That is a welcome attempt to realign the vaulting ambitions of the past eight years with the meagre progress. But it is still ambitious.
Barack Obama may have hand-picked Gen McChrystal and given him 21,000 extra troops. But, as Americans turn against the war, the president appears reluctant to commit more forces. There is little evidence to suggest, moreover, the allies can build up indigenous forces as fast as the review wants.
This goes to the heart of the US and Nato's “resolve”. All sides in the complex Afghan conflict must come to believe the allies are determined to get a grip. That includes, for example, Pakistan's generals and spies, who will not decisively break their still extensive links with jihadi groups if they fear the allies are going to leave a vacuum in Afghanistan their arch-rival India is already stepping in to fill.
Yet Gen McChrystal deserves a chance to make his new approach work – with some more troops from the US and many more from its allies. This was not a war of choice. The allies, furthermore, have staked Nato's credibility on the outcome. Above all, they cannot just abandon the Afghan people to a resurgent Taliban without trying to open the way to a future a majority of them would prefer.
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Indonesia: Influx of Afghan asylum-seekers stretches resources
PUNCAK, 21 September 2009 (IRIN) - Indonesia has been struggling to cope with a surge of Afghan asylum-seekers since the beginning of 2009, officials say.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that between 1 January and 31 August it had registered 1,371 Afghan asylum-seekers, and that in the first six months of 2009 there had been a 925 percent increase in the number of asylum-seekers on the figure for the whole of 2008.
It has also officially recognized 142 as refugees.
However, Indonesian immigration officials say their actual numbers probably run into the thousands, as many slip into the country unrecorded.
"We started noticing an increase in August 2008. It's not consistent every month, but in general it's going up most months in increasing numbers," Robert Ashe, UNHCR's regional representative in Jakarta, told IRIN.
Afghans accounted for over 60 percent of the 2,414 asylum-seekers and refugees currently registered by the UNHCR in Indonesia.
Most claim to come from Afghanistan's central province of Ghazni, and 80 percent are from the ethnic Hazara group (mainly Shia and making up about 9 percent of the population).
Destination Australia
Most of the Afghans seen by the UNHCR have made it to Indonesia using agents, including people smugglers and traffickers, and their main destination is Australia.
Most have also transited through Pakistan or Iran, and are fleeing from generalized violence, rather than individual persecution.
"The main reason [for the increase] is the push factor - the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating," said the UNHCR's Ashe.
"It's possible we are getting Afghan refugees from Pakistan as well. As the situation in Pakistan has deteriorated… they feel they have to move to safer places," he said.
Giant risks
Afghan migrants travelling by boat to Indonesia take giant risks: the seas around Indonesia are among the most treacherous in the world, and barely seaworthy boats filled beyond capacity often drift or sink.
In May, nine Afghan refugees drowned when their vessel capsized near the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Ali Reza Noori, a UNHCR-recognized refugee, was among thousands of unregistered Afghans who have tried, unsuccessfully, to reach Australia several times by boat. The last "horrible" attempt almost cost him his life, he said.
"The boat pump broke after a few days. There were 140 people on board. Everybody panicked and prayed. We had to drink water from the sea," he told IRIN at a house provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Puncak, near Jakarta.
The leaking craft was spotted by the Indonesian authorities after being adrift for 14 days, shortly after supplies had run out.
Struggling to cope
The cash-strapped Indonesian government has been taken by surprise by the sudden increase in Afghans entering the country in search of a better life.
"For Indonesia, the problem is they have limited capacity in their detention centres, and this large influx - as they start to pick people up - has stretched their capacity," said Ashe.
Indonesia is not a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, nor does it have a refugee status determination system, so asylum-seekers do not receive official status.
The country also lacks a law against people-smuggling, which means offenders are prosecuted under other legislation, such as immigration laws, and only locked up for limited periods of time, said Ashe.
"It's not enough to stop people smugglers from operating," he said.
Detention centres overflowing
Another refugee, Ali Ahadi, left behind his wife and four children and paid US$4,000 to people smugglers - a huge amount, given Afghanistan's per capita income of US$300 - for the journey to Australia via the Indonesian island of Flores, near Bali.
The boat that was supposed to pick him up never came, and Ahadi ended up in a detention centre called Kalideres, near Jakarta.
"It looks like a jail. They put six people in a room that is supposed to fit two, and then they lock the door," he told IRIN from the city of Medan, where he is living in an IOM house as a recognized refugee.
Maroloan Barimbing, a spokesman for the Indonesian immigration service, admitted the detention centres were crowded.
"Indonesia has 13 detention centres, but they are not designed to have that many refugees. The largest can accommodate around 50 people, but most are only for 30 people," he said.
New centres have been built to shelter an additional 600 refugees of all nationalities, but that is not nearly enough.
"We cannot handle it ourselves. We have to get the international community to understand that this should not be Indonesia's problem (alone)," said Barimbing.
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US sees hand of elite Iranian unit in Afghanistan
Reuters By Adam Entous Mon Sep 21, 2009
WASHINGTON - The United States believes Iran's Revolutionary Guards are providing training and weapons to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan to help them fight Western forces, U.S. counterterrorism officials said on Monday.
The alleged role played by the Revolutionary Guard's shadowy, elite Qods force in helping the Taliban, and the extent to which the Iranian leadership may be involved, has been hotly debated within the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community.
In a confidential assessment of the war, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Army General Stanley McChrystal, said Iranian military assistance was not an immediate threat to Western forces but could become one in the future.
A counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the degree of Qods assistance -- supplying arms and providing training to Taliban elements -- had reached "very troubling" proportions, underscoring heightened concerns within the intelligence community.
The CIA and other agencies have been stepping up their presence in Afghanistan, deploying more officers to accommodate a surge in demand for intelligence on the Taliban and other threats, a U.S. intelligence official said.
Two years ago, the Bush administration dubbed the Revolutionary Guard a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and imposed sanctions on its Qods force.
It accused the group of arming and training militants in Iraq who, in turn, attacked U.S. forces.
Pentagon officials pointed to the seizure late last month in western Afghanistan, near the border with Iran, of weapons and explosives bearing markings indicating they were made in Iran.
The large weapons cache, the first seized in Afghanistan in nearly two years, included rockets, explosives, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), as well as munitions known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, capable of piercing U.S. armor, Pentagon officials said.
U.S. officials said they believed the Iranian government was aware of the assistance but it was not clear to what extent its leaders were directly involved.
US SAYS IRAN PLAYING BOTH SIDES
Mainly Shi'ite Iran has historically played a complicated role in Afghanistan.
Tehran was a foe of the Taliban when the hardline Sunni movement ruled Afghanistan.
Since the group's ouster in a U.S.-backed invasion in 2001, Tehran has provided developmental assistance and political support to the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
U.S. officials said Iran appeared to be trying to play both sides, currying Taliban favor in case they return to power while trying to undercut the American military and enhance its bargaining power in talks over its nuclear program.
Set up after the 1979 Islamic revolution to protect the ruling system against internal and external threats, the Revolutionary Guard has about 125,000 members and is the most important wing of Iran's military.
Qods, which means Jerusalem, is the guard's special operations unit, handling activities abroad.
In his assessment of the war, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post and posted online, McChrystal said the Qods force was "reportedly" training fighters for certain Taliban groups and providing other forms of military assistance to insurgents.
"Iran's current policies and actions do not pose a short-term threat to the mission, but Iran has the capability to threaten the mission in the future," McChrystal wrote.
Pentagon officials said the presence of Iranian-made improvised explosive devices in the recently discovered cache in Afghanistan was particularly troubling because those weapons cause the highest number of Western casualties. (Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Simon Denyer and Cynthia Osterman)
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Afghanistan's War - Waged on the Airwaves
U.S.-Backed Radio Stations Compete With Taliban Messages in Remote Regions Where Illiteracy Is High
CBS By Mandy Clark 22 Sept 2009
U.S. forces in Afghanistan are waging a new kind of battle in their campaign to win hearts and minds. You might call it the "radio wars," as CBS News Correspondent Mandy Clark reports from eastern Afghanistan.
Running a radio station wouldn't normally be considered a dangerous job, but for Sahib Dad Hamdar it could cost him his life.
"The Taliban want to kill me for what I do," said Hamdar, speaking in Pashtu.
The Taliban are angry because Radio Kalagush broadcasts programs on women's issues and education in a remote eastern province of Afghanistan. That's a challenge to the Taliban's conservative ideology.
"Questions and Answers" is the most popular show. It's educational trivia contest for both boys and girls - an idea unthinkable to the Taliban, who oppose girls' education.
In a region of Afghanistan where literary is less than 20 percent, radio is the best way to reach the people.
The U.S. funds the station and also helps build the audience by handing out radios. They've given out hundreds so far.
"We were in a village this morning and that's all they want, more radios," said Maj. Billy Siekman, an operations officer for the Army's 2-77 Field Artillery Battalion.
Village women say they liked the women's show the most. They want a segment on basic first aid and child care.
But this is a battle of the airwaves. Another villager is listening to a Taliban radio station. They have sprung up around the country as well - broadcasting threats to kill those who cooperate with international forces.
"The Taliban messages are intimidating and dangerous," the villager says. "They encourage the young to join the Taliban and kill people."
U.S. forces admit that people could use their new radios to tune into the Taliban but say given the choice, Afghans wants positive information.
"A lot of the messages that we put out are specifically to help the people, for example, drinking clean water, how to take care of your child," said Army Lt. Stacey Gross. "Those are really productive messages versus hate and discontent messages that we generally hear from the Taliban."
Hamdar is hoping to expand the reach of the station. Knowledge, he says, is the best weapon against the darkness.
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